'Paying Hidden Tax': Bengaluru Techie's Rant Over Traffic, Commute Viral

Bengaluru's employees face daily, serpentine traffic jams while commuting to work, a problem highlighted by a Reddit user who expressed frustration over paying significant taxes without seeing any return on investment, as road infrastructure and traffic management remain a mess.

In the post titled "Traffic is the new tax", the user, a tech employee for Oracle, living in JP Nagar, detailed their commute problems. The user stated that they had an annual income of Rs 28 lakh but were paying approximately Rs 6.5 lakh in income tax and Rs 1.4 lakh in GST on everyday expenses, which collectively represent over three months of their yearly earnings.

"He earns Rs 28 lakhs a year (RSU not included). On that, he pays Rs 6.5 lakhs in income tax. Another Rs 1.4 lakhs in GST on everyday expenses. Together, that's more than three months of his work each year, just for the country," the user wrote in the r/Bengaluru subreddit.

The user highlighted that they were paying a 'hidden tax' that was not being spent on improving the lives of the residents.

"His office is 14 kilometres away. It should actually take 30 minutes. But in reality, it takes 90. Add the time lost in traffic, 2.5 months a year,"

"The first two taxes were meant to build something, better roads, smoother commutes, smarter cities. But planning went wrong. The money often went elsewhere. Ending up paying the hidden tax, not even having time to look back and introspect."

See the viral post here:

Traffic is the new tax
byu/Proof-Ad-1019 inBengaluru

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'No Return On Any Tax'

As the post went viral, social media users agreed with the assessment, adding that poor planning and unsustainable schemes had contributed to the mess.

"Yup. I always tell this to my team. If you put an engineer working in Bangalore in any foreign country with cleaner air and no traffic, they will become 20 per cent more efficient with no other changes," said one user while another added: "You forgot the expense due to E20 damage."

A third commented: "Bengaluru citizens are milked to death to fund the unsustainable schemes. Instead of investing in future of the city, Bengaluru has become orphaned child put to hard labour and no pay i.e. there is no return on any tax."

A fourth said: "Agreed, the city is being choked with more population than it could have. The greed of few people is the contribution."

Earlier this month, a viral video showed students sitting inside a school bus chronicling their pothole-filled journey in Bengaluru. The students revealed that earlier they used to return home around 3:15 pm, but now the bus dropped them off at 4:40 pm, which forced them to "postpone extracurricular activities" and left them with less time to study.